Memory keys or "buttons" have long been incorporated into consumer radio and analog television products in order to provide users the ability to store transmission frequencies and broadcast channels which are desired for future tuning. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,492 issued to Hakamada et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,438 issued to Filoiman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,654 issued to Deiss, U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,711 issued to Steckler et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,186 issued to Wine and U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,985 issued to Merrell.
Each of the above patents broadly discloses means for a TV tuner to automatically skip selected analog TV broadcast channels either because a station does not exist at that frequency, or because the user has indicated that she is not interested in viewing the channel. See also U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,230 issued to Marks et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,414 issued to Koyanahei which disclose means for automatically tuning to channels at predefined times. Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,195 issued to Tults and U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,702 issued to Yoshimura et al. disclose means for automatically tuning only to channels where TV broadcast signals exist. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,518 issued to Shimizu discloses means for providing additional memory such that channel settings may be tested at the factory and re-set for the field.
Recent advances in information processing and distribution generally referred to by the trade as the "Information Highway" have resulted in the increased availability of so-called "digital" television channels which have a multitude of applications which may be selected by the user. These applications are generally organized in a hierarchical structure of visual menu screens and corresponding presentation elements all of which must be physically navigated by the user through consecutive menu selections in order to obtain the desired application.
Consider, for example, a digital channel such as that shown in FIG. 1 wherein the main menu identifies entertainment applications for "dining", "shopping", "calendar", "tours", "attractions" and "nightlife". As shown, if the user desires to obtain the restaurant hours of a selected Mandarin chinese restaurant, ten screen selections must be made before arriving at the desired application. This physical manipulation requires significant user effort and time as well as memory to navigate. For example, assume that each selection requires ten seconds for the user to view the screen, decide on an action, make a selection, and have the system change to the next screen. It would take over 90 seconds for the user to navigate to the fifth screen of a six level menu structure.
While the above references broadly disclose means for storing selected radio frequencies or channels in analog broadcast television, none teach or suggest means for automatically navigating a complex structure such as a visual menu structure on a digital television channel.
Consequently, a need exists for a method of storing in memory and automatically tuning to selected presentation elements of a complex structure such as applications of a visual menu structure found on a digital television channel. Such a method must be operative to reduce the amount of user effort, memory and time necessary to navigate the complex structure. Moreover, such a method should permit stored information to be easily retrieved through a user selection device such as, for example, a remote control. Still further, such a method should permit user broadcast preferences such as volume, color contrast, screen display size, etc. to be stored along with the storage locations of corresponding applications for future automatic retrieval and display.